By Kelly Weisbecker
Co-Opinion Editor
For 189 seniors, “Pomp and Circumstance” will be music to their ears next week. That’s when the First Flight High School Class of 2014 will receive their diplomas and celebrate the end of their high school careers. This will be the 10th graduation conducted since the first class graduated in 2005.
Commencement exercises are planned for Friday, June 13, at the football stadium – weather permitting. Provided graduation is held outside, no tickets are required and the public is invited to attend. The ceremony begins at 7:30 p.m. (Click HERE to watch the ceremony live online.)
In case of inclement weather, the graduation ceremony will be moved inside to the gymnasium. If that occurs each senior will be given five tickets for family and friends.
Valedictorian Katherin Hennigan and salutatorian Samuel Eure will be among the speakers to address the graduates. Brandon Harris, the First Flight High School and Dare County Teacher of the Year for 2013-2014, is this year’s featured speaker. He said he hopes his message will show the seniors how special they are.
“I don’t want to spoil any of the surprises of my speech, but I do want the class of 2014 to know that their parents, their teachers, their friends, and everyone who has been a part of their lives believe in them,” said Harris who teaches AP Calculus and Pre-Calculus. “They have achieved so much success already, and they will continue to achieve such great success, and the most important thing is always to be happy.”
Other speakers include Student Government Association officers Alexandra Nolte, Zachary Smith, Murphy Grant, and Taylor Bancroft as well as senior class officers Andrew Scott, Madeline Bailey, Taylor Seal and Samuel Tronolone.
Juniors who will serve as academic marshalls are Mary Alice Blackstock, Matt Gray, Cameron Howard, Madison Kichline, T.H. LaCroix, Rachel Parsons, Stephen Peters, Abbey Poznanski, Anastasia Ratti, Matthew Thibodeau.
Harris says this class has made an impression on him and he’s happy to be the speaker for graduation.
“The class of 2014 has impressed me from the day they were freshmen,” Harris said. “Through my own experiences of teaching the class of 2014, I have had students throw me baby showers, start traditions like clapping for any person that enters the classroom (it always made people happy), and this class has shown great consideration for their peers. I have been lucky to teach and interact with so many Seniors on a daily basis from Calculus to lunch duty,”
Seniors have a mandatory graduation practice scheduled for Friday, June 13, at 9:30 a.m. at the football stadium. Seniors should arrive at the stadium for graduation no later than 6:45 p.m.
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